Market appearance of vertical barbecue grills has been scarce but many prior patents have issued directed to such devices. Some of the prior devices are even portable, collapsible, and even serve as space heaters. Prior patents include:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,540 to Mazzochi is particularly relevant in disclosing a collapsible, consumer-oriented portable vertical barbecue grill but lacks, among other things, an inclined firebox. Inclination advantageously provides direct and indirect heating at the same time. U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,472 to Einto discloses a xe2x80x9cconvertiblexe2x80x9d grill having a firebox alterable between vertical and horizontal positions. U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,855 shows a combination space heater and grilling device having a pivoting firebox and ash receiving tray assembly where space heating occurs in the vertical position and grilling occurs in a horizontal position. U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,093 to Dodgen shows an inclined hearth located deep within a fire chamber of a barbecue grill but without horizontally disposed, accessible cooking grids across the face thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 3,343,527 to Manteris shows a vertical hearth grill including a grease trap and a barrier belt positioned at a cooking grid level to assist in air circulation. Some prior grills provide double hearths on opposed sides of a grid for more even cooking, but to attain portability and compactness a single hearth is generally acceptable.
In light of the design, construction, and limitations of these and perhaps other prior vertical grilling devices, problems confronted and/or addressed by the present invention include but are not limited to achieving simultaneously multi-temperature and multi-mode cooking (direct and indirect heating), simultaneous underside and laterally cooking, thermal insulation from extreme firebox heat, ash containment and removal for easy clean-up, channeling and trapping grease. drippings, strength and rigidity of deployed grill assembly, convertibility to an oven, portability and transportability of a collapsed grill, stability of a grill assembly when fully deployed, and/or containment of grill parts for transport and storage.
In view of the above-stated problems, it is an objective of the present invention to provide improved grilling, broiling and searing by providing a combination of direct and indirect heating of foodstuffs by utilizing an inclined firebox.
It is also a general objective of the present invention to provide a method of changeably applying direct and/or indirect heating during cooking, grilling, broiling, or barbecuing of foodstuffs on horizontal grids positioned across the face of an inclined firebox.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for applying underside and lateral heat for cooking foods.
It is a yet an additional objective of the present invention to augment thermal insulation of an external housing of a vertical barbecue grill by providing an arrangement to displace the fire chamber from rear and vertical walls of the grill assembly and by spacing hot coals in a basket within the firebox.
It is yet another objective of the invention to provide, at least for briquette-burning grills, a firebox that avoids ash avalanche over cooking foods and for providing an ash reservoir within a firebox that may be removed without disturbing other parts of the grill.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a vertical barbecue grill construction enabling convertibility to an oven for baking, roasting, grilling, etc.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide a deployable barbecue grill having a rigid and stable structure in a fully deployed and extended mode.
It is yet an additional objective of the present invention to provide a barbecue grill that is stable against backward tipping due a rearward displacement of the center of gravity when deployed and loaded with charcoal.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide a self-contained vertical barbecue grill assembly that is collapsible for convenient transport, storage, and shipping.
Other objectives will become readily apparent from the following description.
Improvements of the present invention are directed to providing a backwardly inclined hearth or firebox for a vertical barbecue grill (gas-fired or charcoal burning), providing multiple cooking grids positionable at various vertical levels across the face of the backwardly inclined hearth or firebox, providing a coal or grate basket for insulation and/or creating an ash reservoir directly in the firebox, providing thermally insulated sidewalls that also slideably support multiple cooking grids and that receive a cover or a hinged cover to convert the area between sidewalls to an oven-like enclosure for baking or broiling, providing a vertical grill structure that facilitates inclined support and convenient removal of a heated firebox, and/or providing an arrangement of components which collapses and which is contained in an about a suit-case like unit for convenient shipping or transport. In addition, the invention also encompasses methods for simultaneously providing direct and indirect heat during cooking.
Other features, aspects, and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon review of the following description of illustrative embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The invention, though, is pointed out with particularity by the appended claims.